I’ve created a survey, which only takes a few minutes to fill out, and you can enter in a draw to win some goodies. To be considered for the draw, you will need to complete the survey before April 30, 2015.

Here are some questions I think you might have about the survey, especially if you came from the survey page. If you have any other questions, please leave them in the comments below.

Who are you and why are you doing this?
I’m Eva. I work in science publishing and science communication. I used to be a biochemist, I play violin and am trying to learn some other instruments. I noticed over the years that there are always a lot of other scientists in my orchestras, and other musicians in my science circles, so I want to explore that further and learn more about these “musisci”.

What’s musisci?
It’s a term I coined to indicate people who do both music and science. It’s pronounced “myoo-sis-eye”, or like you’re starting to say “musical” but with “sci” instead of “cal”.

Is this for academic research?
No. Although I have a PhD, it’s not in social sciences, and I’m not currently affiliated with any academic organisation, so there’s nothing scientific about this. This survey is just to learn a bit more about people’s interests while I further explore the topic.

Your survey is not properly designed.
That’s not a question. But no, it’s not. I realise that there are several biases in the sampling, and that the questions aren’t well-balanced. Like I said above, this is not an academic analysis, but just a way to quickly gauge where people’s interests lie, and to potentially find new people to interview.

What can we win in the random draw?
See this post for photo and list of the prizes.

How will we know who won the random draw?
The winner will be contacted directly so that I can ask where to send the prize. If they are happy with their name being announced, I will also post it on this blog, and in the newsletter about this project.

How are you going to draw the winner?
With a random number generator and a numbered list of participants.

How often are you going to send that newsletter, and what’s in it?
Quarterly, or less often. This is not my full-time commitment at the moment, and progress is very slow, so I won’t even have more to share. As for content, I will tell you the results of the survey (anonymized), future plans for this project, and you’ll get some fun links and news about musisci in general. I’ll use a system where you can easily unsubscribe. The first one will not arrive any time before May.

What are you going to do with my email address?Only what you agree for me to use it for. The last part of the survey has all the details.

Eva Amsen is a writer, science communicator and blogger. She has been writing about science and scientists in art/culture/life since 2005, both on this blog and for other sites and publications.
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